Mechanical Engineer - Airframe

Harmattan AI

ABOUT US Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected. ABOUT THE ROLE As a Mechanical Engineer on Harmattan AI’s Airframe team, you will design UAV platforms and subsystems in an autonomous, fast-paced environment. You will take ownership of projects from concept through to production, ensuring optimal performance, reliability, and manufacturability. RESPONSIBILITIES * Design and prototype UAV platforms and complex subsystems from scratch, ensuring the right balance between durability, efficiency, and performance. * Take full ownership of system-level constraints, including thermal management, mass budget (weight), COGS (cost), and environmental sealing (IP ratings). * Work closely with R&D teams (Electrical, Software, and Industrialisation) to ensure seamless mechanical integration of sensors, payloads, and electronics. * Conduct rigorous testing, including stress and failure analysis. Identify risks proactively and develop the necessary tools (test benches, calculation sheets, or scripts) to validate designs for operation in extreme environments. * Manage your own delivery packages and technical specifications with precision, consistently meeting or exceeding requirements under tight deadlines. * Oversee the manufacturing process by collaborating directly with suppliers and external manufacturers, with a focus on plastic injection moulding and precision machining, to ensure quality and schedule targets are achieved. * Maintain the “source of truth” through Confluence and professional 2D/3D documentation. Document all designs, test results, and production workflows to support knowledge sharing and continuous improvement. CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS * Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field. * Proven experience designing and prototyping mechanical systems, ideally within UAVs, robotics, or defence applications. * Proficiency in CAD software (e.g., SolidWorks); experience with structural and thermal analysis tools (FEA) is a strong advantage. * Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, including high-precision machining and plastic injection moulding. * Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly document complex technical concepts and lead cross-functional discussions. * Full commitment to Harmattan AI’s mission, vision, and growth plans, with a willingness to go the extra mile in pursuit of operational excellence. We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.

Harmattan AI

ABOUT US Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected. Harmattan is seeking an Aerodynamic Engineer to help design, validate, and continuously improve the flight physics of our UAV and eVTOL platforms. You'll work across the full loop — from conceptual aerodynamic design and simulation, through physical testing, to the Python tooling that ties it all together — collaborating closely with the Mechanical and GNC teams. RESPONSIBILITIES * Aerodynamic Design & Analysis: Contribute to the aerodynamic layout and analysis of fixed-wing, multicopter, and eVTOL configurations, moving fluidly between low-fidelity methods (XFoil, OpenVSP, AVL) and higher-fidelity CFD depending on the stage of the design. * Testing & Validation: Support flight test and/or wind tunnel campaigns — helping define test cards, instrument prototypes, and run experiments — to validate simulation predictions against real-world data. * Python Tooling & Automation: Write Python to automate analysis workflows, process test/flight data, and connect design and simulation tools together into a smoother end-to-end pipeline. * Aero Database Generation: Generate and maintain aerodynamic databases and stability derivatives that the GNC team relies on for control law development and autopilot tuning. * Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with the Mechanical and GNC teams throughout the design cycle to make sure aerodynamic choices stay feasible, stable, and testable in practice. REQUIREMENTS * Education: B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, or a related field, with coursework or project experience touching aerodynamics or flight mechanics. * Aerodynamics & Flight Dynamics Knowledge: Solid grasp of aerodynamic fundamentals (lift, drag, stability) and flight dynamics, with enough intuition to reason about a design's behaviour before running a full simulation or test. * Python Proficiency: Comfortable scripting in Python (NumPy, SciPy, Pandas) to process data, automate repetitive analysis, and glue together different engineering tools. * Simulation or Testing Exposure: Hands-on experience with at least one side of the validation loop — either aerodynamic simulation (CFD, XFoil, OpenVSP, AVL) or physical/experimental testing (wind tunnel, flight test, prototyping). * CAD Familiarity: Comfortable navigating and making basic edits in SolidWorks or CATIA, enough to understand geometry constraints and communicate effectively with the Mechanical team. * Pragmatic, Hands-on Mindset: Happy moving across the full design-to-validation loop rather than staying in a single niche, and comfortable working in a small, fast-moving team. NICE-TO-HAVE * French language skills. * Hands-on experience building or flying RC aircraft/drones. * Propeller design and integration with the airframe. * Aeroacoustics. We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.

Harmattan AI

ABOUT US Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces. Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected. Harmattan is seeking a hands-on Aerothermal Engineer to join our Aerodynamics team. You will own the full thermal and aerothermal engineering cycle for our UAV platforms: from early design recommendations and simulation to wind tunnel experiments and flight test campaigns. Your work directly impacts the survivability, reliability, and performance of our systems in contested environments. You will be the technical authority on heat transfer, thermal management, and aerothermal interactions across all vehicle programs — working closely with aerodynamics, propulsion, mechanical, and GNC teams to ensure our platforms perform within thermal limits under real operational conditions. RESPONSIBILITIES * Aerothermal Design & Recommendations: Provide early-stage design guidance on thermal management architecture — including cooling inlet design, heat shield placement, exhaust routing, and surface coatings — to ensure airframes remain within thermal limits across the full flight envelope. * Thermal & Aerothermal Simulation: Set up, run, and validate lower fidelity thermal models, simulations and coupled thermal-fluid CFD tools (e.g., OpenFOAM). Model convective, conductive, and radiative heat transfer on internal components (batteries, motors, avionics) and external aerodynamic surfaces. * Design Optimization: Drive iterative aerothermal optimization cycles to minimize thermal drag penalty, reduce hotspot intensity, and maximize cooling efficiency. Leverage scripting and automated workflows to sweep design parameters and converge on optimal configurations. * Wind Tunnel Test Campaigns: Design, plan, and execute aerothermal wind tunnel experiments. Define instrumentation strategy (thermocouples, heat flux sensors, pressure taps), write test plans, operate test rigs, and lead post-test data analysis and correlation with simulation. * Flight Test Campaigns: Contribute to and lead in-flight thermal measurement campaigns. Define DAQ architecture for thermal sensors, develop test matrices, analyze flight data, and correlate with CFD predictions to validate models and sign off thermal margins. * Cross-functional Integration: Act as the thermal interface between the aerodynamics, propulsion, mechanical, and GNC teams — ensuring that thermal constraints are reflected in system-level trade-offs and that heat rejection requirements are accounted for in the airframe design. REQUIREMENTS * Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field with a strong focus on fluid mechanics and heat transfer. * AeroThermal Fundamentals: Solid theoretical grounding in convective, conductive, and radiative heat transfer; boundary layer theory; and viscous flow physics as applied to aircraft surfaces and internal cooling passages. * Thermal Simulation Proficiency: Hands-on experience with CFD simulations in at least one major solver (OpenFOAM, Star-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent/CFX, or equivalent). Ability to select appropriate thermal boundary conditions, turbulence models, and mesh strategies for accuracy. * Experimental Testing: Demonstrated experience planning and executing thermal measurement campaigns — either in wind tunnel or in-flight — including instrumentation selection, DAQ setup, data reduction, and uncertainty analysis. * Python Proficiency: Ability to script data processing pipelines, automate post-processing of thermal simulation outputs, and interface with experimental DAQ systems. * Technical Communication: Ability to translate complex aerothermal findings into clear design recommendations for multidisciplinary teams. NICE TO HAVE * General Aerodynamic Knowledge: Familiarity with the fundamentals of external aerodynamics — lift and drag generation, pressure distributions, boundary layer behaviour, and flow separation — as applied to fixed-wing or multirotor UAV platforms. * RC Knowledge: Hands-on experience building, flying, or tuning RC aircraft or drones — whether fixed-wing, quadcopter, or hybrid configurations. We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.